# Engineers Corner > Information Technology Microprocessor, Microcontroller and DSP

## Lokesh M

What is the difference between microprocessor, microcontroller and DSP?

NOTE : _[This question was asked by bajjuri.thirupathi, I am posting it in proper forum]_

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## kalayama

There are some differences between the three.
A microprocessor will be designed to general purpose tasks. Basically it can be programmed to do any task we want it to do. (Like Pentium, Athlon processors where in you can load any operating system you want and load any software you want). It will perform two basic tasks. It will be able to execute a instruction set and it will be able to communicate to external memory.

A microcontroller is a type of microprocessor which will have some memory embedded with it. Though general purpose to some extent, it's instruction set will support a few functions. It will have a ROM embedded in it which can be programmed. Based on the instructions written in the ROm, the microcontroller will work.

There are dedictaed DSP chips available. The instruction set and hardware in DSP chips will be custom made to perform DSP jobs. That means, a DSP processor is designed to support DSP applications. (That's the idea I have.)

Here are some refference links.
Microcontrollers - tutorial 1
Digital signal processor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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## Lokesh M

Thanks for your answer kalayama

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